Penumbra
by Indiemaria
Summary: "You think I enjoy being a monster. You think I don't regret..." After a strange rage attack, Bandriian seems to have forgotten everything he did for the last hours... or did he? Short story.


**Note**: The species shown are owned by neopets.

He woke up into some faint darkness that filled the little room. He could distinguish some silhouettes: furniture, for sure, thrown to the floor, some chairs tripped and broken, placed upside down, their sticks threatening like the hairs of a porcupine. A foul smell came to his nose: blood, he sensed. He was laying his head over a puddle of blood, already drying up. But, as strange as it seemed, he didn't smell the corresponding rotting, dead body that used to accompany the rusty smell.

He lifted his sore body slowly. It was a common feeling after a rage stroke like he just had.

He was used to those. When he reached that state of mind where he could not control his rage or his hunger anymore, he entered into a violent subconscious state, where the next time he woke up, he would never remember what happened. But he could guess by the remains that were left near him, which usually consisted on torn away stuff, and a constant smell of death and decay. This time, his accompany decay was missing.

He tried to recognize the silhouette of a body in the penumbra, but found none. Even though the smell of blood was there (and it prickled his senses with delight, needless to say), he felt something was changed. Was he really alone in there?

He lifted himself to his feet and brushed away the blood in his mouth with his forearm. His cold fangs brushed his skin and left a tickling sensation, like he touched a bruise. He needed light.

There was no door, only a cavity in the wall covered up by an old curtain. Faint light came from the other side: it made its way in through some pores in the cloth. There was also a new smell going through them: smoke.

"Oh sweet joy" he whispered to himself before he went to the other room.

The light came up from an old lantern on the ceiling. He closed a bit his carmine eyes at the sudden hit of light, and placed a hand on his forehead, a sudden headache arising from changing environments too fast. The furniture here was intact, the chairs in place, a couple of tables, and lots, lots of beds and couches laid around the corners of the room. Which looked more like a little salon, to be honest. The young vampire soon remembered where he was. In front of him was an Ixi, looking pretty upset, like there were some harsh words held in her mouth just about to burst out. But when she opened her mouth, out came the smoke. On her left hand she held a half-consumed cigarette.

"How do you feel?" Her voice sounded like she had a hard time controlling it.

"Like crap, if I must confess… But at least my tummy seems bloated" he answered. The Ixi looked at him with anger held in her gaze, analyzing him up and down. The Blumaroo seemed… bathed in blood and dirt. His yellow, short fur had lumps of dried up blood and the hint of bruises. He was shirtless and his brown pants had cuts in his knees, covered in dirt. Even though he was badly beaten up, he smiled, showing of a little bit of his fangs.

"No regrets, I guess" the Ixi said harshly. The young man shrugged.

"I don't remember anything."

He sat on the floor beside her with a sigh, placing his elbows over his dirty knees. He looked up and saw that the face of his companion was getting softer. "Hey Lissy, gimme one… I really need one after, eh, anything that happened in there" he asked.

"You really wanna know what you did?" Lissy said. She grabbed a cigarette box from her left pocket, took one and tossed it towards the Blumaroo, along with a lighter. Both bumped on his head and he laughed at her behaviors.

"I wanna know" he replied with a sly smile. She looked at him with poisonous ivy eyes, puffing smoke on his face. The vampire didn't mind: he liked the smell.

After a moment of thinking, she sighed. "You did as usual."

Ingaliss's face wasn't so tough anymore. Now, she seemed disturbed, as she had sudden goosebumps. The images of what happened just a couple of hours ago were fresh in her mind, and were even more refreshed by all the bruises, blood and dirt her accompany had over his body. "The poor girl was about my age, maybe a couple of years younger" she started describing. "She tried to seduce you: you could have been in your own nerves yet, maybe… When you arrived to this room everyone was gone: it was already closed, and soon Jain would close the other two. She got too close to you… and then she bumped her hip against a sofa that had some splinters. Then you couldn't resist…"

She stopped talking. The young vampire patted the floor beside him, and she sat down there. Both puffed smoke out of their mouths at the same time, looking at the front with no apparent expression on their faces. Bandriian was wondering how badly he'd really treated that girl… He remembered her looks, her smell and her eyes. She was pretty… Was she? Was she still alive? Ingaliss took her time to answer to what he was thinking.

"When you lost control, I was outside talking to Jain, just beside the window. We heard two bumps in a row, and got alert. I entered just in case… and luckily Jain followed me. What we saw was no surprise but… I got stuck in the entrance for a minute. Jain reacted quickly, grabbing you by the back and throwing you to that small room over there." She pointed to the mossy curtains. "However… you dragged the girl with you. You didn't bite her, though. That would've been tragic."

"I didn't bite her? Then how is it that I feel satisfied?"

"Because you almost cut her into pieces."

The Ixi hugged herself, shaking so much she couldn't control her body. The Blumaroo extended his arms, and almost embraced her in a hug. But she moved away from him, without even looking into his eyes. His real emotions then bloomed, showing as his eyes opened wide and his mouth shut straight in a thin line. He was controlled, just mocking his own emotions, but now, hearing the complete story of what happened just a couple of hours ago, he took off all of his barriers. He knew she didn't move away because of the dirt and blood on his chest.

"You think I enjoy acting like a monster, don't you?" Bandriian whispered slowly. He looked at his bloody hands, breathing roughly. "You think I don't regret… Inside I'm ripping my own organs out, bleeding my own blood out of my veins, torturing myself mercilessly and leaving myself exposed to the pain. Nobody sees that."

Lissy looked at her partner, surprised. She knew he didn't like being the monster he was, but did he regret about absolutely everything? She opened her mouth slowly, but the words didn't come out. She was breathless. The smoke whirled around her, and through it, the vampire looked buried inside a deep despair, only reflected in his red eyes, looking at his hands.

"Nobody will ever see it" he murmured to himself.

Ingaliss placed a shaky hand over his shoulder, and Bandri closed his eyes.

"I can see it" she whispered in reply.

Through the smoke, she believed she saw a little tear rolling on his cheek. She couldn't be sure, though.

Then, the door flung open, and a Cybunny holding a big ivory pipe stepped inside, looking left and right.

"Hey, fellas, it's time to close and leave" he said to both pets. "Ah, so you woke up, Bandri?" He walked slowly to the smoke-filled space besides the curtains, crossing between all the sofas, chairs and tables. "How do you feel?"

"I'm ok now" Bandriian replied, recovering his sly smile and his half-closed eyes. The tear seemed to be an illusion for Ingaliss now. "How's the girl?"

"Ahh, so you remember, eh? She's ok, I left her to heal with a nearby voodoo witch, or healer, whatever. She's got two deep cuts… you seemed to remember you had a short knife in your pockets. Luckily you didn't manage to bite her. That would've been tragic…"

"I didn't bite her?" Bandri asked, smiling and raising his eyebrows. He knew already, thanks to his partner. "Well, better for her. Hey Jain, was I a big problem?"

"Actually, no" the Cybunny replied, crossing his arms over his chest, looking down with one healthy, pink eye. His other eye, grey as charcoal, stayed the same, motionless. "I already had this room closed. You were all alone…"

Both men laughed, while the Ixi looked up to Jain. Her mind got caught by his grey eye: it held so many stories in its shiny grey iris. She knew many of them, but most were still hidden behind the veil of his memory. Ingaliss stared at the grey eye, wondering. Just wondering.

The vampire and the Cybunny talked a bit more, as the moon over the opium house swam in its deep blue ocean, and she was still wondering.


End file.
